Standby time improvements for stations in a wireless network

• US 8,611,970 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2012
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Meylan, Arnaud, Deshpande, Manoj M., Nanda, Sanjiv
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US13/429,116
• Publication Number:
  US 20120176949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 634 Days
• Field of Search: 455/13.4, 455/127.1, 455/127.5, 455/343.1, 455/343.2, 455/343.5, 455/458, 455/522, 455572-574, 455/439, 370/311, 370/318, 370/338, 370/312, 370/346, 370/337, 370/390, 340 732- 738, 713/320
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0225 using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a station, a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval. The first DTIM is configured to indicate whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval. The first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM. The method further includes receiving the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a station, a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval, and wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM;

in response to receiving the first DTIM, receiving the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic; and

operating according to a power save mode at a broadcast time of the second DTIM.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first DTIM corresponds to traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring, the group-addressed traffic including the traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring, and wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic that includes at least one of application broadcast traffic and application multicast traffic.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to maintain, while operating according to the power save mode, network connectivity, wherein maintaining the network connectivity includes receiving the first DTIM and ignoring the second DTIM.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first DTIM is sent by an access point at times according to the first delivery interval, wherein the second DTIM is sent by the access point at times according to the second delivery interval, and wherein the second delivery interval is selected by the access point, and wherein a first duration of the first delivery interval is a multiple of a second duration of the second delivery interval.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating according to the power save mode during the second delivery interval associated with the second DTIM.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first DTIM is sent during each listen interval associated with the station and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in the power save mode.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising waking from the power save mode to receive the first DTIM and to receive the group-addressed traffic, wherein the station ignores the second DTIM while the station is in the power save mode.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval and wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM; and

receive the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic; and

operating according to a power save mode at a broadcast time of the second DTIM.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in the power save mode.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic that includes at least one of application broadcast traffic and application multicast traffic.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to wake from the power save mode at times according to the first delivery interval to receive the first DTIM and to ignore other DTIMs while the processor is in the power save mode.

12. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval and wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM;

means for receiving the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic; and

means for operating according to a power save mode at a broadcast time of the second DTIM.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in the power save mode.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic that includes at least one of application broadcast traffic and application multicast traffic.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the means for receiving the first DTIM is configured to wake from the power save mode at times according to the first delivery interval to receive the first DTIM and to ignore other DTIMs while the means for receiving the first DTIM is in the power save mode.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

receive a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval and wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM;

receive the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic; and

operate according to a power save mode at a broadcast time of the second DTIM.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in the power save mode.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic that includes at least one of application broadcast traffic and application multicast traffic.

19. A method comprising:

sending, by an access point, a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery in a beacon interval, wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM, wherein the first delivery interval is associated with network connectivity traffic, and wherein the second delivery interval is associated with application traffic; and

sending the group-addressed traffic in the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes address resolution protocol (ARP) traffic, dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) traffic, topology update traffic, or a combination thereof, and wherein the group-addressed traffic does not include application broadcast traffic.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

sending the second DTIM, wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic; and

sending the second group-addressed traffic.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein a mobile device in communication with the access point operates according to a power save mode at a broadcast time of the second DTIM, and wherein the first DTIM enables the mobile device to maintain network connectivity with the access point while operating according to the power save mode.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the second DTIM is sent by the access point at times according to the second delivery interval and wherein the second delivery interval is selected by the access point.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in a power save mode, and wherein the first DTIM is sent during each listen interval associated with a at least one of the stations that is in the power save mode.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

send a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval, wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM, wherein the first delivery interval is associated with network connectivity traffic, and wherein the second delivery interval is associated with application traffic; and

send the group-addressed traffic during in the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the processor is integrated into a service access point (SAP) configured to maintain network connectivity with one or more stations operating according to a power save mode.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processor is further configured to send the second DTIM, and wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the second group-addressed traffic includes at least one of application broadcast traffic and application multicast traffic.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in a power save mode.

31. An apparatus comprising:

means for sending, by an access point, a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval, wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM, wherein the first delivery interval is associated with network connectivity traffic, and wherein the second delivery interval is associated with application traffic; and

means for sending the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising means for sending the second DTIM, wherein the second DTIM corresponds to second group-addressed traffic.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in a power save mode.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

send a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval, wherein the first DTIM indicates whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval, wherein the first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM, wherein the first delivery interval is associated with network connectivity traffic, and wherein the second delivery interval is associated with application traffic; and

send the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval, wherein the group-addressed traffic includes at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring and wherein the group-addressed traffic is available for delivery to one or more stations that are in a power save mode.